Walter O'Brien
Walter O'Brien (born February 24, 1975 ) is the founder and CEO of Scorpion Computer Services. His personal history is the inspiration for the CBS television series Scorpion (2014), though the authenticity of his personal history has been disputed. Life O'Brien was born in Ireland on a farm in County Wexford. He is the second of a family of five. He earned degrees in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence from the University of Sussex. O'Brien gained entry to the United States on June 19, 2001, on an immigrant E11 Visa granted by the United States Embassy in Dublin, Ireland, as a permanent resident. Career O'Brien founded Scorpion Computer Services for which he serves as CEO. He is also founder and CEO of ConciergeUp.com. O'Brien is an executive producer for Scorpion, and contributes to its story development. O'Brien is Chief Scientist at Langford & Charmichael. He also serves on the advisory board for LawLoop.com. Walter created ScenGen (Scenario Generator) which won Connect's "Most Innovative Product of the Year" in 2011. Other firms he has worked for include Capital Group Companies in Irvine, CA and he was a Director at American Environmental Energy Inc. until 2011. Media O'Brien appeared in a cameo role for the Scorpion pilot. In May 2013, KTTV Fox 11 interviewed Walter O'Brien where he discussed video forensics techniques employed to digest large amounts of video content. Authenticity controversy On September 25, 2014, Techdirt journalist Mike Masnick wrote a piece titled "Another Story Of A 'Fake' Brilliant Inventor? Is 'Scorpion Walter O'Brien' A Real Computer Security Genius?", in which Masnick researched and questioned many of O'Brien's claims. On September 19, 2014 CNET (which is owned by CBS Corporation through their CBS Interactive division) published an article titled "Scorpion's origin: The real-world story behind CBS's new drama" by journalist Tim Stevens. The article has since been updated, stating "It has been brought to our attention that questions have been raised about the accuracy of some of O'Brien's claims regarding his work and personal history. We have reached out to O'Brien directly for clarification." On October 4, 2014, The Irish Times journalist Brian Boyd published an article "Scorpion: Walter O'Brien on his life off-screen" in which Boyd concedes "It’s impossible to substantiate such claims." Boyd goes on to say "Ask O’Brien directly if he has ever saved the world and he evades the question with a series of “there are things I can’t talk about” answers." On October 6, 2014, Masnick followed-up his original article, "Another Story Of A 'Fake' Brilliant Inventor? Is 'Scorpion Walter O'Brien' A Real Computer Security Genius?", with a piece titled "The Mythical And Almost Certainly Made Up 'Legend' Of Walter O'Brien Continues To Grow", in which Masnick describes a recent "Techmanity" event in which the Scorpion team, inclusive of O'Brien, were to provide Q&A on the basis and content of the show. Masnick claims that the Q&A session never occurred, and also presents many instances of both objective and anecdotal responses to many of O'Brien's claims. References External links * retweet Official company website Category:Living people Category:1975 births Category:People from County Wexford Category:Alumni of the University of Sussex